Dr Tracey Vell, chief executive of Manchester LMC, told Pulse that the extra funding ‘will make every GP have the capability to go to 20-30 minutes of quality, continuity-of-care appointments’.

Dr Vell added that with the extra time, GPs are able to spend longer with patients with complex needs, which she said is where continuity of care ‘really kicks in’.

She said: ‘Continuity is less important for some populations, but what we are doing is giving patients that choice, we are not making it for them.

‘We are saying you can see your GP on this day, but if you don’t mind seeing any GP in a different setting on the same day, you could choose that.’

She added that the extended appointments scheme is 'assisted by the time we save in not doing home visits, or not every home visit'.

Dr Vell said that some of the £42m was allocated for 'additional workforce', adding that some practices have access to 'paramedics that are starting to do home visits for GPs', while a clinical pharmacist is now stationed in every GP ‘hub’.

GPs in Manchester operate in hubs of up to six practices, covering between 30,000 and 50,000 patients each.

The hubs are divided into ‘local care organisations’ (LCOs), with between five and six hubs in each of 10 LCOs across Manchester.

NHS England has named Greater Manchester as one of nine 'likely candidates' to become one of the first such ACSs.

In return for becoming an ACS, NHS England has promised the organisations ‘more control and freedom’ over their regional NHS including receiving devolved national GP Forward View, mental health and cancer funding from 2018.

Despite some people's concerns, I think it is a step forward. Home visits are not a good use of time and I see this as the first step towards no home visits.

In countries where people pay directly for healthcare, there suddenly seems to be far fewer people that 'need' home visits.

Having said that we need to be aware of the risks. The big risk here is that people who are truly housebound are going to get a worse service. There is real irony in saying that paramedics are taking on home visits so GPs can have more time to work on the 'most complex' cases.

Welcome to the end of general practice that we had ever known! We knew that this was coming anyway regardless of the skills that the paramedics may have. The days of the ‘family doctor’ that I was brought up in and tried to practice as a GP are well and truly gone whatever benefits that gave to patients. Welcome to the Grave New World !.

What a fabulous idea! Thank goodness the housebound do not have complex clinical needs! Need more time with my ambulant fibromyalgic/ chronically fatigued cohort. As for cate of the dying, sure an ambo driver will be up to the job.